"Ready to leave the nest?"

Once again this year—I guess for the sixth year in a row—several mother birds have laid their eggs and raised their young in the very same nest on our porch. And we’ve been treated again to the joys of motherhood—the day and night sitting on the nest, the constant feeding of the young, and the final stage when those little birds leave the nest.

As the second batch of young ones prepared to leave the nest, my wife stood at the door and watched as the mother bird continued to feed the young. And my wife asked me, “If she keeps feeding them, won’t the babies want to just stay in the nest? Do you think she stops feeding them so they’ll know it’s time to leave?”

I had never thought of that before. I have no idea what she does, but I’m watching. And thinking about times of painful separation in all of our lives. Times when we don’t get fed. And it seems God went on a picnic…alone.

But even though it feels like you’re alone and God is absent, God is still watching you from somewhere. And just like the mother bird, providing for you just the same.